So last night blogging just was not possible. So save your guilt, and deal :) We were working in the kitchen until one am to take care of something the electrician suddenly needed (I'll explain it later). Anyway - we COLLAPSED into bed.
Yesterday was actually pretty productive... The night before i finally got giant half-inch paint elevation plans drawings done for the inner and outer lobby. I'd been trying to fuss with the free google program, Sketch Up, which is awesome for 3D viewing - but it won't let me transfer the dimensions into flat elevations. So I set up two of the future cafe tables and just started doing it the old fashioned way. It took hours - but Rich is going to scan small sections of it - then I can jigsaw puzzle it together in Photoshop - and I'll have a big 1/2 plan in the computer of each wall. So then I can sketch in scale and work out paint colors for accent walls and the floor design etc etc. And since we got an offer for two separate events to be housed in the theatre in mid/late October - it would be great if we could have most of the renovation done in time for those dates. Or we'll have to turn them down. :( They aren't gonna pay us thousands of dollars or anything - but it would be great to get a couple hundred people into the building, see the beginning of the changes, and get the word on the street. One of the offers is someone who wants to do an all night showing of all six Star Wars movies - which I just think would be cool :)

I also got to work on Natalie's storefront sign. She wants her logo and stuff up on the window glass - and she had hired someone to design it... but she wasn't confident with their sketch (and neither were we)... and I'd rather design something that both she likes and we like too... so i said I'd do it. It's almost done - and then we'll just send it to some company online, get it printed, and install it ourselves.

The main news of the day, of course, was that the electrician came. They're really nice... and seem to be making great progress. The have to put all the outlets into the kitchen, the wiring for the water heater, the hookups in the laundry room (current icky bathroom), and get Rich some outlets in his office. It's hard work cuz they have to drill through brick to run the conduit - but it's shiny aluminum and looks really nice - and they are doing a really nice job of running it flush to the wall - it looks very clean and neat. I've never seen that big bendy thing they curve pipe with... it's a nifty gadget. Anyway if I wasn't so tired I'd be pretty ecstatic about all this plumbing and electric stuff going in for the kitchen/ bathroom. And the windows should arrive this week - and once those are installed, it's full speed ahead. Wheeeeee.

Rich managed a miracle in fixing the photocopier we had inherited. It was broken and Natalie had gotten a gigantic new fancy machine - she said if we could fix this one, we could have it. So Rich did some puttering, and looked up stuff online, and ordered a part and some new toner. And voila. Photocopier. So we're psyched. One purchase we don't have to make :)

Anyway - they got most of the roughing done by the end of the day. There was one framing wall (that will enclose the tub in the bathroom) which they had told us not to install yet... and before he left he said "Ok, well if you can get that last wall up now, we can finish up tomorrow." Aaaaaa. So we had to drop everything and try and do that puppy. And we thought it was a support beam too that we had to move out and replace... Well - this was a freakin' nightmare. It took about an hours worth of demo just to get started. Then when we started trying to cut the studs, Rich got so frustrated. The ceiling has all these angles and curves in there, and the floor isn't even and the ceiling isn't even. And the plumber wanted to put his stuff before the walls went up - so we had really small space in which to maneuver and get things slotted in. It was not fun. We had a nightmare time getting the stuff snug to the ceiling... and had to recut a couple things several times. And it's tricky to get in to nail or screw at a lot of those angles. It got done - and Rich did a great job... but our nerves were frayed by the end of it and we were just wiped out. We did run out for dinner in the middle of our meltdown... and I have to say... Bob Evan's biscuits: TASTY, TASTY.

Finally at around one thirty it was done and we were toast. We collapsed into bed.
Today Rich has been doing a lot of catch up work with his web clients etc. Natalie and I looked at the sign layout, made a couple changes and I'll whip that out tomorrow. I spent a couple hours doing the jigsaw put-together of the first half of the foyer plans. It's now all together and the lines are cleaned up so I can use paint fills in Photoshop to color any section/wall etc. that I want to and we can play with options. I'll do the other one tomorrow. The electricians continued their work - and they'll be back Thursday. They're chatty and we seem to be learning all kinds of electrician trivia. Brian won major points when he was educating Tyler that dachshound is German for Badger Hound and that they were bred to go down burrows for hunting. Any guy who knows wiener trivia is good in my book. Tyler just likes to talk while he works so I now know about his two kids, his trailer, the bunny he accidently ran over with a mower, and his colorful adventures involving an overrun community of stray cats that had gotten out of control. You don't wanna know. But they are both very very nice... particularly, considering that Rich said, it's pretty obvious after two seconds that this place doesn't have a second bedrrom. As long as we bring them business, they don't c care if we have two head... fine by us. They've total pros and really friendly. Brian also showed us the magnetic signs on his truck. We had been looking into them - but didn't were afraid they might take off the paint or whatever. He loves them. They are big magnetic panels - like a giant flexible plastic fridge magnet - that are printed up like a painted car bueiness ad would be - but they can snap right on and off your truck. So we could have them for the coffee shop when it opens.. and then for the theatre... and even the seasons shows. They seem really like a good investment down the line.

Our next big project is gonna be the joists for the bathroom floor. It's gonna be REALLY hard because the floor is uneven and we have to work around all the plumbing. Sigh.

Anyway - sorry this isn't more hysterical - but I'm exhausted still and we are going to go to bed VERY early tonight. But I didn't want to let two days go by without a post. I'll even give you lots of pictures tomorrow of the electrical stuff. Sorry - I'm just too wiped out to do all the photo embellishments tonight. Rich is watching Funny Farm with Chevy Chase... it's all a little close to home, right now :)